Autos with stock awsome sound systems; Recomend?

I had Bose systems in my last two cars and was not at all impressed with their performance.

The sound was always "in your face," including loose bass and punched up EQ sounding mids and highs. I even set the EQ to "below flat," in an attempt to repair the skewed frequency problems, to no avail.

Last week I bought a BMW X-5 and the sound system in it is really excellent.

Now I find myself listening to CD or radio every time I get in this car, and actually liking it. I can't say who built the sound system. It's not marked up with logos like most.

Bently has Naim system.

My Acura MDX with the premium sound system sounds really good. In the Car and Driver comparo with other luxury SUV's the MDX took top honors in driving performance as well as the stereo sound. When I get stuck in Bay Area commute traffic I just switch from driver to listener mode and enjoy the music rather than get frustrated with traffic. Standard with XM receiver. Only drawback is really crappy AM when I listen to the news. Fun car too if you get the magneto-rheological sport suspension!

I have been lucky enough to spend some time with an Audi A8 equipped with the Bang & Olufsen "advanced sound system", and it is by far the best audio system I've ever heard in a car, period . . . whether stock or aftermarket/custom. Too bad the car is simply way out of my budget.

The thing I hate the most about most car sound systems is that they're abnormally bass-heavy, and you can do very little with the tone controls to improve matters. The bass also usually seems "late" or "behind the beat", depending on the program material. For some reason I associate this with the Bose 'house sound', but they are by no means the only or even the worst offenders . . . I have even heard some Bose car systems that I liked OK.

The 'premium' system in my wife's new Mini is especially bad in this department. It's really too bad because it sounds nice otherwise . . . and it would only take a single band of parametric EQ to fix it.

I like Levinson system in my Lexus. A friend just bought a BMW and the sound system there is on par.